The Correlation between Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Aggressive Behavior among Adolescents

Aggressive behavior is a concerning issue among teenagers in Bangladesh and globally, requiring more focus on the identification of preventive and intervention techniques. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies and aggressive behavior among adolescents.

A cross-sectional correlational study design was employed to explore the correlation between CER strategies and aggressive behavior in 2023. The study included 300 adolescents (161 boys and 139 girls) randomly selected from five secondary schools in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. For data collection, the Bengali CER Questionnaire and the Measure of Aggressive Behavior were used. In order to analyze the data, descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analysis were applied. All analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS version 25.

The findings of the study showed that maladaptive strategies of CER were positively correlated to aggressive behavior (Self-blame: r=0.510, P=0.01; Rumination: r=0.506, P=0.01; Catastrophizing: r=0.474, P=0.01; Blaming others: r=0.384, P=0.01) while adaptive techniques of CER were negatively correlated to aggressive behavior among adolescents (Positive refocusing: r=-0.478, P=0.01; Refocus on planning: r=-0.331, P=0.01; Positive reappraisal: r=-0.470, P=0.01; Putting into perspective: r=-0.299, P=0.01). Maladaptive CER strategies (Self-blame: β=0.160, 95% CI [0.147, 1.295], P=0.014; Rumination: β=0.161, 95% CI [0.143, 1.293], P=0.015; Catastrophizing: β=0.157, 95% CI [0.194, 1.179], P=0.006; Blaming Others: β=0.110, 95% CI [0.022, 0.719], P=0.010 ) were associated with higher levels of aggressive behavior but adaptive strategies (Positive Refocusing: β=-0.189, 95% CI [-1.137, -0.225], P=0.004 and Positive Reappraisal: β=-0.135, 95% CI [-1.015, - 0.041], P=0.034) were linked to decrease in aggressive behavior.

It can be argued that adaptive CER methods serve as protective factors against aggressive behavior in adolescents while maladaptive CER strategies serve as risk factors.